Disintegrator.



W. E. DAMON.

DISINTEGRATOR.

APPLIGATIoN FILED AUG. 1s, 190s.

` Patented July 5, 1910.

WILLIAM EDWIN DAHON, OF BOWLING' GREEN, KENTUCKY.

DISINTEGBATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 5, 1910.

Application led August 18, 1908. Serial No. 449,171.

' To all whom it may concern:

Bel it known that I, WILLIAM EDWIN DAMON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bowling Green, in the county of Warren and State .of Kentucky, have in-- vented new and useful Improvements in Disvention is to provide a machine adapted tov disintegrate or separate the flour from the middlings, the parts of whichbeing so constructed and arranged as to provide a gentle action for breaking, through theproeess of attrition, cakes of ilour, which have been softened by previous reductions on smooth rolls, so that the impurities are not also torn; the action of the machine being such as to free the third or fourth Iniddlings from so much of this caked material as-to renderl the stock in a better condition to be handled upon the smooth rolls of the .milling machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a disintegrating chamber having an inlet and an .outlet provided with a yielding closure having means whereby the middllngs are compressed upon the sides of a itator or disintegrating arms positioned adjacent the outlet, the arms being provided with a shaft and having suitable screws positioned adjacent the agitator arms and adapted to receive the caked flour or middlings, means being provided for operating the shaft whereby the cakes of flour are separated by attrition, and the doors being provided with regulating means whereby the disintegrated material may be discharged through the opening by the action of the agitator arms.

With these and other objects in view, which will appear as the description progresses, fthe invention resides in the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification and in which similar.. numerals of V"reference indicate corresponding-parts in all the gures, I have illustrated the preferred embodiment of the invention, as it now appears to me', but it is to be understood that minor details, within the scope of my claims, .may be employed without departing from or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a -top lan viewof a machine constructed in accor ance with the invention. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal sectional view of the devlce. Fi 3 is a cross sectional view taken upon the hne 2--2 of Fig. 2. Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate, in side elevation, modied forms of agitator or disintegrating arms.

In the accompanying drawings the numeral l designates a cylinder provided with closed ends 2. These ends 2 may be either integrally formed upon the cylinder 1 or may be formed separate and provided with inwardly extending annular flanges 3 adapted to receive the cylinder and may also be provided with downwardly extending portions terminating in feet 4 by which the cylinder is positioneda suitable distance above the ground or flooring of a flour mill. .The cylinder 1 is rovided with a hopper 5 and is also rovi ed upon one of its sides, and prefera ly central of the cylinder with a suitable outlet or opening 6 which is provided with a hinged door or closure 7. This door 7 is provided with an outwardly extending arm 8 which is adapted for the reception. of a slidable weight 9. The weight 9 has a threaded aperture communicating with its bore and adapted for the reception of suitable retaining elements l0. By this arrangement it will be noted that the door 7 maybe regulated, so as toy require a greater or esser amount of pressure from the interior of the cylinder 1 before the same is opened.

By reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, it will be noted that the ends 2 are provided with outwardly extending bearings 11, centrally arranged in regard to the cylinder 1, and adapted. for the reception of a longitudinally extending shaft 12. Centrally arranged upon the shaft 12, and having one or more of their number positioned adjacent the door'7 is a plurality of agitator or disintegrating arms 13. These arms 13 may be arranged in a variety of shapes or forms as illustrated in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 of the drawings, but the arms are preferably secured upon the shaft 12 in a rights angular relation to each other, as illustrated 1n Fig. 3 of the drawings.

Rigidly secured tothe shaft 12, adjacent the outer agitator arms 13 are thespirally arranged blades 14. It will be noted by reference to the sectional views of the drawing that the blades 14 as well as the agitator or disintegrating arms 13 have their ends positioned a suitable distance away from the tubing 1. The object of this being to prevent the crushing of the ain or middlings dur'- ing the process of disintegration.

The operation of the device is as follows: The shaft 12 is supplied with a pulley 15 which isconnected with any desiredsourcel of power and by which the shaft carrying the spiral blades 14 and agitator arms 13 is revolved at a given velocity. Middlings are then fed through thehopper 5 and are conveyed through the medium of the spiral blades 14 adjacent the inlet 5 in the direction of the a itator arms 7 toward the opposite end of tie device. It will be noted by reference to Fig. 2 of the drawings that the spiral blt es 14 are each arranged at an opposite angle and are adapted to force the middlings toward the agitator arms 13. The middlings within the convolutions of the spiral blades 1-1 are not compressed and are subjected to a small amount of attrition as the shaft is revolved and the middlings are forccfl in both directions toward the agitator 'arms 13 where they are compressed into a compact mass so that the revolving agitator `arms produce a more complete disintegration. The weight 9 carried by the door 7, having been formerly set to overcome a certain predetermined amount of resistance, is opened by the pressure upon the inside of the cylinder l when the resistance of the weight isovercome, and the disintegrated material is forced through the door into suitable receptacles. Y

lt is to be understood that the middlings fed to the disintegrator are those which have paused through the middling rolls and that they are already fractured. To return the middlings to the rolls without the process of disintegration would result in crushing the gluten of the grain.

W ith a machine constructed as described thc middlings are subjected to a mild proc-I simple, cheap and eective device for sep` arating the flour from the middlings and whereby a finer grade of Hour is produced. From the above description, it will be noted that the process is adapted, as near as possible, to simulate the movement of a human hand, as the caked material receives the same motion as though it were placed in the palm of the hand, and the fingers manipulatcd so as to describe a partial rotary as well as a partial reciprocatory movement in the direction of the palm, this movement being limited so as to subject the mass to a squeezing action as well as agitating themass when compressed to cause the particles to rub and to disintegrate by attrition, after which the mass is discharged in particles when the body and the pressure of a mass increases to a determined degree.

pressure of the mass increases to a deter-V mined degree.

2. In an ,apparatus for disintegrating middlings, a case havin closed ends, said casing being provided with a central opening, a weight regulated door for the opening, means for feeding a constant stream of middlings into the casing to form a mass, means for subjecting the-mass to a squeezing action by opposite pressures, means for agitating the mass while so compressed to cause the particles to rub and disinte` grate by attrition and lfor discharging particles of the mass through the door at a time when the body pressure of the mass increases to a determined degree.

3. In a. machine adapted to disintegrate flour from middlings through the process of attrition, a casing, said casing being provided adjacent one of its ends with an inlet hopper and being centrally provided with an outlet opening, a hinged door for the opening, said door being provided with an outwardly extending arm having a slidable weight positionedthereon, a shaft extending longitudinally through the cylinder, spiral conveyer members upon the shaft adjacent the ends of the cylinder, and angularly arranged disintegrating arms between the conveying members and positioned adjacent the outlet 

